Fuzzy Budget
{Return Generating Assets are money spent to make money by building on contract, training, or collecting rental fees through use-leasing or membership} {Sustainability Assets are designed to reduce cost-of-living expenses for the community thereby achieving greater "self-reliance"} Home Electrical System 2kw Solar $2,000 DIY Solar Cells {SA} Prices are estimates from ebay in 2015, 2kw is based on consumption for industrial small-appliances like welders $2,000 Daily Cycle Storage {SA} A Battery system comparable to the Tesla Power wall, preferablly not retail. $3,000 Wood Gassifier {SA, IP} OMG, I've seen these sell for $60,000 on retail. The R&D on this is dangerous and deceptively deep, but the tech is also rapidly evolving and shrinking. Open-Source options exist, and this is in the optimistic range for executing such a design. I also saw on a 'reality' TV show some people make one out of two steel barrels a couple chopped up trees, a lawn mower and a car alternator, so... $2,000 Solar Thermal or Steam {SA, IP} Anything fancier than an internet-available design for a monotube low pressure system is insanity. Steam is so ridiculously dangerous that if we take visitors we need to lock these systems away from this equipment, and we need to learn proper lock-out tag-out procedure for maintaining this. Sustainable Food Supply Pescetarian and Vegetarian, but not Vegan. The reasons for this are less about ethics and more about disease. Since our goal is sustainability, and we are not planning on making antibiotics anytime soon (ever) we don't want and can't accommodate large numbers of human-pathogen vectors. While there are some issues with parasites and bacteria in fish, you don't have to worry about Bird and Swine flu, Mad Cow disease, or other weird prion disorders that arise in large mammals that affect people. It's paranoid to avoid chickens for eggs and cows for milk, but regular slaughter just won't work. I am open to trying weird experimentation with worms and bugs for processing into food analogues (like cricket flour), and I am open to rabbits since they are cute, delicious, breed like crazy, and have nutrient rich excrement. Also skinning rabbits is ridiculously easy. Also, I don't see a future for the SRA without Ag automation. Automation ties lowered cost of living into the otherwise ridiculous capital expenditures and sunk costs of opening a subsistence farm. Spiritual and holistic development aside, the automated ag system needs become a valuable intellectual property. We can open-source it, but then maintaining the platform and community around the IP will be our residual bread and butter. Without automation, there is also less a link to the future appeal in our brand of sustainability for population-decline or exo-colonization scenarios. $3,000 for Geodesic Greenhouses {SA} Made in the Midwest including Illinois. People have assembled them online but for this much money you can get a big unit setup for you. Lots of glass, but unlikely to blow away in a wind storm and ideal geometry for winter growing with a centralized heat source. This will provide most of our fiber and micro nutrients, along with herbs. is an average of retail supplies assuming >20' diameter spaces $2,000 for Aquaponics System {SA, IP} Protein source, essential oils, and fish excrement makes great fertilizer. Aquaculture was the backbone of ancient roman protein supplies, and along with Egyptian grains was the critical technological advantage for sustaining dense populations. Open-water fish farming of predatory fish can lead to high mercury levels accumulating in the food chain, but our methods will avoid that. I'm told Tilapia are a good choice. is an estimate from anecdotes on reddit and bloggers $2,000 for Aquacultural Equipment {SA, IP} Price is made-up. Should estimate unaccounted for costs since I know nothing about raising fish. $8,000 for OSE Agricultural Equipment {RGA, SA, IP} Anecdotal pricing based on conversations with Marcin and his website. OSE is open-source ecology. We want to do what he did with tractors and power cubes. Maybe not bricklayers. $4,000 for Culinary Equipment and Space {RGA, SA} The CEO of Autodesk said that cooking is the gateway drug for making. Since to justify the transition from comfortable secure babylon to a self-reliant intentional life we need to maximize quality of life against minimizing costs of living we should have a kitchen that is A) Efficient for large groups to cooperate B) Fun to be in C) Capable of producing high-quality finished products Domiciles So I could have sworn I allocated about $4,000 for guest facilities, but we should have return generating living space. Stevie has expressed interest in a bed and breakfast, so I'll leave that to her to work out. The idea, though, is to have amenities available to people who are thinking of switching their entire life over to living with and working with us. It should be comfortable for those who are visiting, or for family not interested in living like gypsies. So flush toilets, nice beds, regular furniture, tv, and internet. Basically a small guest room or two with a small common space like a lobby or parlor and a modern fully equiped bath and shower. I thought we'd put them in a metal structure like you can order online for <$2,000. Guest facilities would be a RGA. $8,000 for Tiny House {SA, IP} Pricing is anecdotal from internet. Commodity prices are low, and lots of stuff can apparently be found for free if you know where to look. Contractors always overbuy materials so taking the excess and oversupply from smart sources is critical. $3,000 for Toilet System {SA} Microflush, although I'm still not sold on composting, aeration, negative pressure. The number could be much lower in reality, as low as $1,000, but I'm not willing to underallocate for this. The flush toilet and modern sewage systems are the single most important technology that allows high population densities and high quality of life to coexist today, excepting maybe public education. {SA} $2,000 for Makershed {RGA} Ideally I'd use my shipping connections to get us a shipping container to stuff some hackerspace stuff into, and rent it out like Betaversity does.{RGA} $1,000 for Water Cistern {SA} is a random guess {Sustainability assets Makerspace $4,000 in Manufacturing Equipment {RGA! RGA!} Prof. Sel with an entire spare woodshop and spare parts (well-maintained, no idea of price), Alex's friend Nick with a Machine Shop (no idea on price or equipment), Alex's friend Jake with a computerized router and cnc-pci driver for Sale (<$1,600) {Should be return generating assets!!!} There is no point in owning our own equipment if we cannot recoup rental opportunity costs and the asset depreciation.